Fauci slams Sturgis Motorcycle Rally but is silent on Obama’s 60th birthday mega-bash

But he was silent on former President Barack Obama's 60th birthday mega-bash at his Martha's Vineyard estate.

Fauci was asked on Meet the Press "You brought up, regionally, the south, but out in the plains in the Great Plains, we have Sturgis, South Dakota, there's a gathering right now, some 700,000 people. Last year, it was a smaller turnout. And it was about over 150,000 people and it led to a massive outbreak in the Dakotas, where they became number one and number two, for essentially the rest of the calendar year of cases. What do you expect this rally to do to that part of the country?"

"Well I'm very concerned," Fauci said, "that we're going to see another surge related to that rally. I mean, to me, it's understandable that people want to do the kinds of things they want to do, they want to their freedom to do that. But there comes a time when you're dealing with a public health crisis that could involve you, your family, and everyone else, that supersedes that need to do exactly what you want to do."

"I mean," Fauci went on, "you're going to ultimately be able to do that in the future, but let's get this pandemic under control before we start acting like nothing is going on. I mean, something bad is going on. I mean, we've got to realize that."

On Obama's massive birthday party on Martha's Vineyard, Fauci was silent. Obama held the party despite the pandemic. Photos emerged from that party showing a large number of guests behaving exactly as Sturgis Motorcyle Rally attendees would behave: maskless and not socially distanced.

But what's good for the former president and his celebrity guests is apparently bad for motorcycle clubs. Large crowd were reportedly fine for BLM activities last year, too, as the motorcycle rally was deemed a super-spreader event while BLM rallies of tens of thousands were just fine, according to reports. In New York, however, those who were collecting COVID-case information in order to track the virus were told explicitly not to ask a COVID-positive person if they had attended BLM demonstrations, so it would be hard to know the true number of cases that resulted from those massive events.

On Saturday, the main party got underway on the ground of the Obama's family home. The party is said to have been "scaled back" but huge tents and dance floors were erected in preparation for Saturday's event.

Between Friday and Saturday, the island's airport saw a very elevated level of activity, as Obama's celebrity friends arrive from all over the place in private jets and helicopters.